Timeline
by battlevalkyrie
Summary: A temporal anomaly has occurred on our dear Voyager yet again, and this time, it's brought someone from 24 years in the future... C/7
1. Chapter 1

The following fanfic will be one that explores what would happen if someone from the future that hadn't been born yet visited our dear Voyager. ;) C/7, P/T, N/I Set after Natural Law but before Seven and Chakotay start dating. I can't tell you how excited I am to have come up with this idea, music inspired this fic! ;) Disclaimer: I own nothing but my ideas.

It was like any other day aboard the starship Voyager. "Captain, there appears to be a temporal anomoly on holodeck two" Seven said anxiously. The Captain and the Commander went to help Seven investigate. "We're on our way Seven." the Captain replied with similar tones of anxiety in her voice, they had just encountered a temporal anomily a few weeks ago.

In the middle of her music performance at the local cafe in her hometown, she was startled as she came face to face with Seven of Nine aboard the Starship Voyager. The young woman was only 21 years of age, lightly tanned skin and dark blonde hair that cascaded down her back and on her shoulders in loose curls, her eyes were a golden hazel and she was wearing a knit but form fitting crimson dress that resembled a summer dress and sandals. For a long moment they stared at each other, the girl was approximately the same height as Seven and physically similar in proportion also. The girl looked at her as if she recognized her but with an element of disbelief on her face.

"Who are you?" Seven asked the girl carefully so as to not frighten her. She understood the confusion that comes with time travel as she'd experienced it herself first hand. The girl looked at her and with apprehension clearly in her voice, "My name is Kara... I shouldn't be here.." she said obviously afraid she would damage the timeline. Seven looked at her with curiousity and raised her eyebrow. "Do you not wish to know your current location?" The girl looked slightly amused. "I know where I am, but I don't belong here..." she stated nervously.

Just then Chakotay and the Captain walked up to them. "Hello, I'm Captain Janeway of the U.S.S. Voyager and this is our ship, and who might you be?" she asked curiously. She couldn't figure out why, but the young woman looked rather familiar to her. In fact, she looked somewhat familiar to all of them.

"I'm Kara, .. " the girl looked to be at a lose for words. Chakotay looked at her kindly, "where are you from?" he asked compassionately. She up at him and appeared a bit flustered. "I'm from Voyager, but I believe I'm 24 years too early here.." she said in a very low tone of voice, she appeared to be very timid. The Captain looked at her in surprise, "who are your parents?" she inquired interestedly. Kara smiled shaking her head slightly, "I can't tell you Au,.. Captain, prime directive, remember?" she had almost gave away a piece of information already. Kathryn looked at her suspiciously, "did you just start to say Aunt?" she was a bit excited at the idea of being considered an Aunt to someone.

Kara looked down slightly, a trait much similar to that of Seven when she was embarrassed or had made an "error". Kathryn knowingly smiled, "Well I won't argue that for the moment, but if we need you too it might serve us to break that rule."

Kara smiled at her, as if understanding already that she would say something like this. Chakotay and Seven looked at each other for a moment, sharing mutual curiosity and a shared elation at seeing each other.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry Kim was walking down the hall accompanying the new comer to Voyager, he found himself unsure of what to say to her but had been assigned to keep her company until they could find a way to send her back home. He had always been very nervous around girls, especially when they were beautiful and he had the horrible luck of always getting involved with women who were unobtainable for one reason or another. Kara was certainty beautiful, but for all he knew she could be his future daughter! Or surely, at the least she was definitely one of his friends or colleague's children. He would try to be her friend though, however unsure he was about how to go about it.

"So, Kara? That's a pretty name. Did your mother or father pick it out?" he asked hoping to catch a hint of who they might be, everyone was excited about learning about the future after all. Everyone on the ship was casting bets on who's child she would be! Naturally Tom Paris had found a way to capitalize from the hoopla, but as always it was all in good fun.

The girl looked at him knowingly, "I'm not going to be giving you any hints." she gave him a smile that reminded him of someone but he just couldn't place who it was at the moment. He felt as if she knew him, and obviously she knew he was trying to get hints about her family.

"Okay, you caught me, it's just that you look so familiar but I can't place you. Everyone is curious." he said still trying to figure it out. Kara smiled and nodded. "I bet Mr. Paris is casting bets at this very moment on the subject." she said knowingly. Harry was caught off guard and chuckled, "You must know us all pretty well" he replied.

"So I hear you are a musician?" he asked trying to make conversation and find out more about her at the same time. Kara smiled, "I'm a singer, I can also play several instruments" He nodded, "Impressive, I play the clarinet.. but then you probably already knew that." he realized as he was in mid sentence there probably wasn't much he could tell her about any of them that she didn't already know.

Just then Harry's comm badge went off, "Ensign Kim, please report to the briefing room, and bring Kara with you", "Yes ma'am" replied Harry. He and Kara made their way to the briefing room hoping to hear good news. When they got there most of the senior staff had already been assembled.

The Captain looked at her and smiled, "Kara, we're doing everything we can to get you back to your time, but we need to figure out what caused this anomaly. Is there anything you can tell us about what happened when you were transported here?"

Kara looked uneasy and glanced unconsciously at Seven, who gave her an encouraging look, "In order to return you to your time, we require more data" she said earnestly looking into the girls eyes. For some reason Seven felt a connection to this girl, not just because of their similar traits that she had noticed but there was something about her.. Seven could quite figure out what it could be. Everyone looked at Seven a bit surprised, she wasn't usually so open with others but lately she'd really grown out of her unsureness and was beginning to act more and more human every day.

Kara nodded at Seven, almost obediently. "I was.. in the middle of a performance, like I told the Captain earlier, it was practice for my parents 23rd wedding anniversary. I was there with Mir... my friends, we were on Earth.." she said reluctantly hoping not to have damaged the time line.

Everyone looked at each other excitedly, but none rivaled Harry's enthusiasm. "So we do get home!" he exclaimed with pure excitement and joy written all over his face. Everyone gave a small laugh at Harry's predictable excitement over getting home even though they didn't know how or when it would actually happen. Kara looked around uncomfortably.

"Kara, was there anything strange that you saw, anything out of the ordinary?" The Captain pressed trying to figure out what had happened.

Kara sighed, "No that's just it, I can't remember anything strange at all, I was singing, and then there was a flash of light and I was here, I can't explain it." she looked defeated as if she should have known the answers herself.

B'Elanna had caught that she'd almost said Miral, it made her wonder whose daughter she was even more since her child would grow up with and be close friends with her even on Earth after they got home. Tom and B'Elanna shared a look and nothing more was said about it at the time, though B'Elanna put her hand on her stomach and began to realize that Miral was definitely the name she wanted for their daughter.

Everyone was focused once again on Kara as she took a deep breath and prepared herself to speak once more to the expectant onlookers. "Yes, we get home, I'm sorry I can't be of more assistance to you in finding out what happened, but I'm more than willing to help in any way that I can." she told them honestly. The way that she spoke, the words she used were almost reminiscent of something Seven would have said and the Captain noticed it, but then dismissed it as she knew the girl couldn't tell them and it would only make her wonder more.

"Can you help Lieutenant Paris reconstruct your whereabouts on the holodeck so that we can get a better idea about what might have caused this?"the Captain asked hopefully. Kara looked to Tom and back to the Captain and nodded. "Yes Captain" she said seriously. With that everyone was dismissed and went their separate ways to discuss the news that sometime in the next 20 years or so they do get home! The ship was buzzing with more gossip than usual with all sorts of rumors and excitement.

Tom approached her as they were to work together. "Hi, I'm Tom as you probably know" he laughed gently. "So we're assigned to holodeck two, where on Earth do you live?" he joked characteristically. She shook her head and rolled her eyes, "some things never change" she gave a soft laugh. Tom looked at her in mock offense, "And what's THAT supposed to mean?" he asked indignantly.


	3. Chapter 3

"Bloomington, Indiana." she replied with a smile. Tom looked at her a little surprised. "Oh, really? You know Captain Janeway is from there. So I bed you're related to her somehow...?" he half jokingly teased her, knowing full well she wouldn't divulge his curiosity. The girl just closed her eyes and shook her head gently with a wry smile on her face. "I can't tell you that Mr. Paris" He looked at her in mock indignation. "They call my father Mr. Paris, I prefer Tom if it's all the same to you." he chuckled.

She shook her head, "In my time line, you're a lot older, remember?" she joked back. They worked for two hours on the setting of the location she'd been in when she'd been transported to Voyager. Just as they were putting the fishing touches on the stage, Kara began to get very quiet and seemed a bit sad. Tom took notice of this and stopped what he was doing walking over to her, "Kara, is something wrong?" he asked in a concerned voice. She looked at him sullenly, "It's just that, … what if I can't find my way back home, what if I never get to preform the song for my parents? And all of my friends, won't even be born yet, the whole time line could be effected just by my being here. My life has been wonderful, my parents were always so supportive, and I grew up having the best of friends and family. I'm afraid I'll never see them again the way they were, remembering the things that I do.. you understand?" she said sadly with tears running down her cheeks.

Tom felt overwhelmed with sympathy for the young girl, and he knew this must be very hard for her to take in, not many people had to deal with unexpected time travel after all. She couldn't have prepared for something like this even if she knew it was going to happen. "You'll see them again, we'll get you back there." he put his arm around her shoulder, "It's gonna be ok, I promise" he said trying to lift her spirits. She looked at him and nodded trying to regain her composure. "I'm sure you'll do everything you can, if anyone can get me home it's Mom. I just need to have faith." she said reassuring herself. He looked at her interestedly, "Your Mom must be really good at calculating temporal anomalies.." he said a little curiously, he hadn't intended to press her for any information but he couldn't ignore what she said, the only person on the ship that was a woman and knew temporal anomalies well that he could think of was Seven. Now that he thought about it, she did look a lot like Seven, but her skin was tanned and her hair and eyes were somewhat darker than Seven's. He began wondering who the father could be in spite of himself. He couldn't help feeling curiosity peak, but above all else he wanted to help her feel better, that was the most important thing.

She realized too late that she had given away a rather telling piece of information which made her afraid she'd damage the time line. "I.." she sighed softly. "You won't tell anyone, will you?" she asked knowing that Mr. Paris was a good person and would respect her wishes. He smiled at her, "Nope, tell them what? I don't know anything" She grinned from ear to ear at him. "Thank you Mr... Tom" she nodded respectfully. He tilted his head slightly and ruffled his brow when she grinned._ That grin..._ he thought to himself, _it looks like.. no! It couldn't be, that's ridiculous!_ He chuckled aloud, "No problem Kara" and they returned to finishing the set on holodeck two. After they'd finished Tom alerted the Captain. "Captain, we're ready, send in the team" he said nodding at Kara with a smile which she returned.

As the Captain, Seven, Chakotay, The Doctor, Harry and Tuvok walked into the holodeck the Captain let out a gasp of realization and excitement. "Blooming, Indiana..." she was speechless for a moment looking around in awe before looking at Kara in surprise. "Kara, you live here?" she asked hopefully. Kara beamed at her smiling but had a blush in her cheeks at the same time. "Yes, Captain, I live here with my family and most of my friends." she said hoping it was alright to say that.

The Captain looked so touched and a tear came to her eyes. "Well," she nodded wiping away the tears swiftly trying to regain her composure. "That's wonderful to hear" she said sincerely. Words couldn't describe the joy she felt at knowing that many of her friends would live in the same town she did and she wouldn't be far separated from them like she feared at times. Voyager's crew had become her closest family and she had grown so close to each of them that it was hard for her to imagine being without some of her closest friends she considered family. She began to be even more curious as to who the girl's parents were, after all she lived in her home town, she had all but called her Aunt, and she'd mentioned being friends with Miral Paris who hadn't yet been born, meaning she probably wasn't born very long after her. It was a shock seeing her hometown on the holodeck, she hadn't made simulations of it in years because it was so painful knowing she may never see it again, though she never lost hope that one day.. but Kara had said they lived there, she would see it again. The Captain's reverie was cut short by an awful yet familiar voice.

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes Kathy?" belligerent as ever there stood before them Q, the annoyance that had plagued them from time to time.

The Captain grimaced at seeing Q, "I wouldn't suppose YOU had anything to do with this, would you?" Kathryn asked almost rhetorically, her words dripping with accusation. She knew when she saw Q given the circumstances there was at least a 99.99 percent chance he was responsible. She put one hand on her side and the other to her temple as she often did when stress overcame her. She shook her head and put her hand down with a sigh.

"Why Kathy, my dear Kathy, I'm positively hurt by your accusations. What on Earth would make you think I'd do such a thing?" he asked indignantly crossing his arms and sticking up his nose at her in mock dramatization.


	4. Chapter 4

Note: I think I'll make one more chapter to complete this story. I had a lot of fun writing this. :) A special thanks to scifiromance for beta reading this! ;)

Kathryn raised her eyebrow, "Really Q? And I suppose you showing up here at a time like this is purely coincidental?" she said her voice full of doubt and echoing everyone's annoyance.

Q just shook his head and came over towards her. "No, well not exactly, you see, it has to do with Jr... he thinks he's in love with little Kara here" he gestured to the young girl who had her arms crossed and looked annoyed herself. "But SHE doesn't like HIM, she had to fall for the _young Owen Paris boy!_" he mocked belligerently. Q looked completely exasperated. "I don't suppose I should have expected less, her parents stubbornness is hereditary after all." he said eying Seven and then glancing at Chakotay.

Tom looked at his wife and they shared a moment of realization, they would someday have another child, a son and name him after Tom's father. B'Elanna couldn't help but smile at him. They were both excited that this wasn't their last baby, for they had always wanted a family. Conception between a human and a Klingnon wasn't the best of odds, but apparently they would be fortunate.

Seven was standing next to the Captain and everyone noticed Q direct his comment towards her, but Chakotay was amongst the rest of the bridge crew and no one was sure who he glanced at.

Kathryn took notice, "Are you saying Seven is her _mother_?" Kathryn asked carefully, knowing Q would reveal all without reservation.

Q sighed dramatically, "Who else? Why do you think she's so stubborn?" he asked clearly meaning it as an insult to Seven and Kara.

Seven took a deep breath, realization hitting her, suddenly she felt as if there wasn't enough air in the room as she looked at Kara who smiled almost sadly, and she knew they shared the same thoughts, hoping the time line wasn't disturbed by the current events unfolding before them.

Kathryn felt even more protective of the child having this conformation which strengthened her resolve. "You can't MAKE someone love your son Q, it just isn't right!" she said heatedly. "You need to let her go back to her own time!"

She was filled with anger over Q's incessant need for attention and petty pranks. _Is there no level he won't stoop to?_ She thought to herself as she looked over to Seven with concern, knowing this must be very difficult for Seven, finding out she had a daughter and not being able to do anything to help her get back home. She put her arm around Seven's shoulder and looked back at Q.

"Honestly Kathy, I'm here to stop junior! He's the one who sent her here, not me!" she looked at her with mock contempt and sighed. "The trouble is.." he started when suddenly "Junior" and a somewhat older Chakotay appeared next to him, he had a gray streak through his hair and was dressed in a black short sleeve shirt and black slacks.

Kara looked both happy and frightened to see her father standing there. "Papa?" she asked in disbelief as she ran into his arms.

He pulled her back after a moment, "Kara, are you ok?" he asked her gently searching her face.

She looked at him and he could see the fear in her eyes, a tear falling slowly from each of them. "I'm fine, but.." she looked down. "We can't stay here much longer, the Doctor says I need to go back to my own time before.. before it's too late." She looked up at him and he could tell she was trying to be brave for his sake.

He looked at her reassuringly, "Don't worry, your Mother will get us out of this, we have a plan" he said in a determined tone of voice. She knew if her parents had a plan, it was going to work.

Chakotay watched all of this in complete disbelief, _I have a daughter, with Seven? _He thought to himself, _Then we do have a future together.. _He looked at Seven and gave her a knowing grin. Seven blushed and returned his smile.

The crew wasn't sure which couple to pay attention to, everything that was going on was such a shock and to some extent a thrill, there was much new gossip to spread around the ship!

B'Elanna and Tom looked at each other in shock and took turns looking from Chakotay and his daughter to Seven and their Chakotay and back at each other.

Harry shared in this looking at Tom quizzically.

Kathryn just stared at Chakotay and his daughter with a small smile forming on her lips. She was surprised, and yet somehow it made sense. She and Chakotay had always been close friends but had decided long ago that nothing more would come of it. She had spurned his original affections, though she had initially been somewhat attracted to him, he just wasn't her type. She had enjoyed the thought that he had a crush on her years ago but wasn't surprised that he'd moved on. When she thought about both of them, she couldn't think of a anyone she trusted more with Seven. She'd always seen Seven as the daughter she never had and was touched when she realized that this meant Seven and Chakotay stayed near her and their child called her Aunt. She smiled even more but then was pulled out of her reverie by Q.

Q and Junior were arguing, "You must go before the Q council and be stripped of your powers Junior, I'm not sure if they'll even return them this time!" he said with exasperation. Just then a temporal rift opened up before everyone's eyes and older versions of Seven and Kathryn stepped out of the portal.

They didn't look very different from Seven and Kathryn now. Seven was wearing a crimson red short sleeve top and grey slacks, her hair down in loose curls. Kathryn had longer hair that had some grey streaks in it and was wearing an admirals uniform.

"It's all over Q, and Q" Kathryn looked at each of them respectively which a tired but firm glare with an odd looking phaser pointed at them. "This phaser was designed by Seven and myself to neutralize your traveling ability, so I suggest you leave immediately" She said sounding completely fed up with their shenanigans.

Seven went to her husband and daughter as soon as she saw them. "Kara, honey are you alright?" she asked in a concerned tone.

Kara smiled and hugged her, "I'm fine Mom, really."

Seven pulled back after a moment and looked to Chakotay who was smiling at her. "We're fine my love, but I'm glad you're here." he said honestly before sharing a soft but brief kiss with her.

Kathryn couldn't stop staring at future self, happy that she'd gotten the crew home and become and Admiral like she'd often dreamed about.

Seven and Chakotay couldn't take their eyes off of their future selves, and neither could the rest of the bridge crew who were watching the whole affair intensely.

Q looked at Seven and Kathryn in surprise. "We were just leaving" he said eying his son in displeasure taking him by the arm and disappearing as usual.

The Admiral Kathryn looked at the crew and sighed at her younger self. "I guess we've done it again, broken the Prime Directive.." She smiled wryly.

Her younger self laughed, "Yes, we do seem to keep butting heads with it don't we?"

The older Seven and Chakotay and Kara looked now to the crew also.

Kara stepped forward, "I want to thank you," She spanned the room. "All of you, for helping me. I hope that we haven't changed what will happen in our future." She said sounding a bit nervous.

Tom smiled at her, "Oh, I think you'll still be born" he teased with a smile looking at Seven and Chakotay who were standing next to each other with his hand on her lower back.

The two shared an intimate smile, though Seven blushed a deep pink before looking at her future daughter. "I can guarantee it" Chakotay said proudly making Seven look at him in shock and everyone could see her embarrassment as she looked back at Kara and their older selves.

"I'm sure the future will not be damaged greatly by these events." Seven added reassuringly.

Kara smiled and their older selves, including the Admiral all looked at each other and laughed before turning back to the crew.

The Admiral announced to them, "Don't worry, never lose hope, we WILL get home and the ship will stay in one piece", she added pointedly at Kathryn with a nod.

Kathryn knew to take this as a hint at something to come and returned the Admiral's nod in kind with a smile. "We will, and thank you" she said gratefully.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own nothing and Realize is by Colbie Caillat

As he sat in his quarters, thinking only of her and the fact that he'd seen their future selves, with a grown daughter no less. He wasn't sure how to go about approaching her. The Captain's voice came over his comm badge.

"Chakotay, Seven, I'd like it if you would both go and collect anything Kara might have left behind in her quarters." Janeway ordered gently.

"Yes Captain" they both said in unison. He couldn't help but think how grateful he was the Captain had given them that order, it made things easier for both he and Seven. They would be given the opportunity to talk about what had happened on the holodeck. He walked down to the turbo lift with a smile on his face.

The doors of the turbo lift opened and he saw her, beautiful as she always was, but she looked very hesitant in front of Kara's door. She noticed him staring at her and looked up.

"Commander.." she started but was stopped by his hand on her arm.

"You know, you can call me Chakotay, we are meant to be you know." he teased lightly with a grin on his face.

She blushed and returned his smile. "Yes, I suppose that would be more appropriate" she agreed with a nod.

He gestured to Kara's door, "Shall we?" he asked her gently. She nodded silently and stepped into the room. He followed behind her.

Kara's room seemed so empty, very tidy and almost untouched. Then they noticed on her dresser a holo imager.

Chakotay looked at Seven, "Should we?" he asked her unsure if they should view it.

Seven couldn't help but feel curiousity peek. This was after all the last thing they had of their daughter until she would be born sometime in the future. "Yes, I believe so" she said unsure herself but curiousity getting the better of her.

Chakotay pressed the button and an image of Kara with a guitar in her hands sitting on a bar stool appeared.

"This song is dedicated to my wonderful parents who have always been the perfect example of true and long lasting love, may then have 23 more years of wedded bliss."

Kara began to sing.

"Take time to realize,  
That your warmth is. Crashing down on in.  
Take time to realize,  
That I am on your side  
Didn't I, Didn't I tell you.

They were both stunned at how well she could sing, but Chakotay knew she'd inherited that lovely talent from her Mother. He smiled at Seven who returned his smile in kind.

But I can't spell it out for you,  
No it's never gonna be that simple  
No I cant spell it out for you

If you just realize what I just realized,  
Then we'd be perfect for each other  
And will never find another  
Just realize what I just realized  
We'd never have to wonder if  
We missed out on each other now.

Take time to realize  
Oh-oh I'm on your side  
Didn't I, didn't I tell you.  
Take time to realize  
This all can pass you by

They both felt a connection to the lyrics in the song that their daughter sung so beautifully. It made them feel a little more at peace with everything that had happened to them recently.

But I can't spell it out for you,  
No its never gonna be that simple  
No I can't spell it out for you.

If you just realize what I just realized  
Then we'd be perfect for each other  
And we'll never find another  
Just realize what I just realized  
We'd never have to wonder if  
We missed out on each other but.

It's not the same  
No it's never the same  
If you don't feel it to.  
If you meet me half way  
If you would meet me half way.  
It could be the same for you.

If you just realize what I just realized  
Then we'd be perfect for each other  
And we'll never find another  
Just realize what I just realized  
We'd never have to wonder  
Just realize what I just realized

As the song began to end, Chakotay took Seven in his arms and they shared a warm and loving embrace. Their daughter had captured their feelings with incredible accuracy. As the daughter of Seven and Chakotay who would have expected less than perfection?

If you just realize what I just realized

Oh

Missed out on each other now  
Missed out on each other now

Realize  
Realize  
Realize"

Note: I have that everyone reading this fic enjoyed it. I tried to make the ending romantic. If you have time please review. :) Thank you for reading this! It was very exciting to write it!


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